This invention relates to golf putting practice devices, and in particular to a practice device which will allow a golfer to practice putting for various distances in a small area.
Many people have designed golf putting practice devices. Many of these practice devices are designed to help a golfer maintain the putter head perpendicular to the path of travel of the putter. Such practice devices are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,437,458 to Springer, 5,435,547 to Lee, 5,362,057 to Arima, 5,282,627 to Beck, 4,437,669 to Pelz, and 3,934,874 to Henderson. The practice devices shown in these patents may help a golfer to properly orient his putter, however, it will not allow a golfer to practice putting so as to learn the proper force needed to putt a golf ball a certain distance under specified conditions which affect path and speed and, therefore the successful outcome of the putt.
A few practice devices have been developed which will allow a putter to actually putt a golf ball. Such practice devices are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,828,267 to Goodrich, 4,805,912 to Hickman, and 3,762,718 to Culley. These practice devices are generally fixed. They do not allow for much variation in the effective putting distance.